


Hot Chocolate!

by escherlat



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escherlat/pseuds/escherlat
Summary: On a winter's day, Chloe and her friends go sledding. She gets distracted by a new girl.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price, Rachel Amber/Steph Gringrich
Comments: 19
Kudos: 76





	1. Chapter 1

It was a cold, crisp morning with snow covering nearly everything. Clouds loomed overhead promising more snow. With school out for the winter holidays, it was the perfect day to hit up the hill outside town for sledding and other activities. And that’s what many of Arcadia Bay’s teens were doing. With nary an adult in sight, it was the perfect day.

“Girls,” Chloe said as her truck slid to halt, “This is the day I school you in all things sledding.”

Next to her, Rachel blew air through her lips. “Not even close, Price,” she said. “I’ve been coming to this hill since I was a kid. I know all its tricks, and how to get the most speed from it.”

Steph rolled her eyes. “Always a competition with you two,” she said good-naturedly as she opened the truck door.

Chloe was already out, beanie tight to her head as her breath bloomed in front of her. She waved her way through it and closed the door with a loud slam. Her boots crunched the crisp snow to the tailgate.

“It’s not a competition if you always win,” Chloe quipped as she lowered the tail gate. Rachel reached in and pulled out the sleds and inner tube they’d brought.

“You know? You’re absolutely right,” Rachel said smoothly. “Tell me when you finally do win.”

Chloe slammed the tail gate closed with a grin and took one of the sleds. “You’re gonna be chasing my ass all day down the slopes.”

Rachel made a show of leaning over to check out Chloe’s ass. “Not much to chase,” she said. Then whooped as Chloe ran after her.

Steph chased after them, the container of food and a large thermos of hot chocolate clutched in her hands. Snow bloomed in front of her as Chloe tackled Rachel into a soft snow drift. Chloe’s laughter was cut short as Rachel threw a pile of snow in her face.

“Alright, ladies,” Steph said with mock seriousness. “Chloe, the only person allowed to ride my girlfriend’s ass is me, so back off!”

Chloe threw her hands up in mock horror. “Oh no! I’m being threatened by the girlfriend. Won’t someone save me!”

“You goof,” Rachel said as she dug her way out of the drift. “You should be nicer to Steph. She’s got the most important asset here.”

“What,” Chloe protested, making a show of looking Steph over. “She’s all formless and lumpy in her snow gear.”

Rachel tossed a loose snowball at her. “The food and hot cocoa you dork!”

Chloe stepped toward Steph with a hand held out. “I can help ya with that sista!”

Steph side-stepped the hand and continued walking. “At this rate, the day will be over before you two even make it up the hill.”

With little more teasing and back and forth, they made their way to the top of the hill. The hill was long, allowing for plenty of sled runs for differing tastes. The near end had short, shallow runs, while further along the slope was steeper and longer. A few places were more ice than snow, so frequently were they used. Some runs had ramps built for the more adventurous to take their adventure into the air.

Chloe nodded appreciatively at several of the steeper runs. They hiked up the hill, then along its crown toward her favorite spot. She’d been coming here since she was a small child. Back then her parents had escorted her and they’d only allow her to take the shorter, safer runs. Now at 17, they were nowhere to be found. She was old enough to come with her friends and enjoy a day without the parentals.

And enjoy it they did. Chloe and Rachel raced each other down the slope, neither quite managing to edge out the other. Steph was amused by their friendly competition, and by her own runs down the slope.

“Hey, who’s that,” Chloe asked during a break. She pointed downhill toward a group of newcomers.

“Who?” Steph and Rachel asked at the same time. Dozens of people milled around near the bottom of the hill, or stood in small groups.

“There, in the middle of that group, two runs over. The one with the teal hat.”

The other two girls peered at the small group of two girls and a boy. “I think the boy is Warren Graham,” Steph said. “The girl with the grey hat is Brooke Scott, science nerd. She’s got it bad for Warren but he doesn’t even see it. The other girl… I think she’s in your photography class, Rachel.”

Rachel studied the third person as closely as she could considering the distance. “I think,” she said closely, “she’s that girl who came in from Seattle. Kind of a quiet girl. Keeps to herself. I don’t remember her name though.” She turned to look at Chloe. “Why do you want to know?”

“Oh, no reason,” Chloe said, sauntering away like she didn’t care.

“Right,” Rachel said. “Would you like Steph or I go down and find if she likes girls and has a girlfriend?”

“What? No!”

Steph and Rachel looked at each other, big grins on their faces. “Oh, I don’t know,” Steph said. “I might find myself needing to ask Brooke a question about our last science test.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Chloe said with a smile.

“Gladly,” Rachel said with a cheeky grin. “But we promised you we’d go sledding.”

Chloe groaned and walked off with a backward middle finger salute.

They switched to one of the runs with a launch ramp, and competed on who could get the highest or longest air. It was all good natured fun because none of them actually cared about winning. The banter and kidding around was the point of the competition for them.

Except Chloe’s heart was no longer fully committed to the fun. Her eyes kept straying to the group that contained the mystery girl. After one run where she completely missed the jump, she propped the sled against a tree and watched the other group a few minutes.

Nonchalantly, she wandered toward the bottom of the sled run the three were using. Unlike Chloe and her friends, this group kept all their refreshments on a picnic table several feet from the bottom of the run. Chloe stopped near the table, hidden behind a snow-covered shrub and pretended to examine her boot.

“Who’s ready for hot chocolate,” a girl enthused.

“Count me in,” replied a dry, female voice.

“Uh, sorry girls,” came the boy’s voice. _Must be Warren._ “But, I uh… I kind of drank all the hot chocolate a few minutes ago.”

“What!” exclaimed the girls.

 _Hot chocolate!_ Chloe looked up the hill to where their supplies were. And she saw Steph unscrewing the thermos. _Hot chocolate!_

Before any thought could register, Chloe was racing up the hill. She slid to a stop before Steph and yanked the thermos from her, spilling some of the drink on the snow. “Sorry,” Chloe cried as she jammed the lid on. “Hot chocolate emergency!”

“What the hell is a hot chocolate emergency,” Rachel asked. But Chloe was already slipping and sliding down the hill.

“I’m guessing it’s the other group,” Steph said as she saw the general direction their friend headed.

All sorts of smooth and charming scenes ran through Chloe’s head as she raced toward the group. She’d slide into the group with her thermos, give them all a charming smile and be their hero as she smoothly poured the chocolatey goodness into the mystery girl’s cup. Variations of that, and how she’d introduce herself went round and round in her head.

The two girls were glaring at the boy, Warren, who had his hands up. “I’m sorry, girls,” he said. “I can go get more.”

“How,” the girl with the grey hat protested, “you don’t have a driver’s license and it will take you at least thirty minutes to reach the nearest store on foot. They don’t sell pre-made hot chocolate at that store.”

The girl with the teal hat, looked at her empty cup sadly.

Chloe slid and stumbled into their midst, breath pluming from her mouth and nose. The three jumped and made surprised noises.

“Hot chocolate,” Chloe panted. “Hot chocolate!” And she thrust the large thermos at the girl wearing the teal hat.

Chloe’s stomach sank as the reality of her introduction sank in. The visions of being their hero, the new girl’s hero, were dashed as the words tumbled from her mouth. The three looked at each other, then at her. The girl she wanted to meet raised her eyebrow and fixed her eyes on Chloe.

Clear blue eyes among a scattering of freckles on smooth white skin took her measure. And then her mouth opened in a smile and Chloe’s brain broke as the smile lit up the world.

Weird muffled sounds swarmed around her, but they were drowned out by the beating of Chloe’s heart. Blue eyes and a smile were her world. Nothing else mattered.

Suddenly, the world snapped into focus for her. “-you sharing?” The other girl said.

With a grin she hoped was charming, Chloe opened her mouth to say something, but her tongue didn’t work! Nor did her brain for that matter. Her heart was now pounding in her ears as the smile on the other girl began fading.

Chloe mustered everything she had and managed to squeak, “Sharing. Hot chocolate.”

Smoothly, she opened the thermos to pour the steaming goodness into the cup held out by the mystery girl. Only the thermos wouldn’t open. When she’d rammed the lid on, she’d jammed it. She strained and strained, but it wouldn’t budge. Warren moved to take the thermos and she warned him off with a look.

She bit the fingers of her left hand glove and yanked it off. Without the extra padding she was able to get a good grip on the lid. With a flourish, she whipped it off, and then watched the cap bounce a spinning path down the table to fly into the snow on the other side.

That didn’t matter. The thermos was open and the girl with the blue eyes was smiling again! She poured the dark liquid into the cup she held and watched the girl take a sip. The other two held out their cups but Chloe couldn’t see them. Her world was watching that cup tilt up toward that freckled face, delivering its sweet, sweet nectar.

Chloe set the thermos on the table, where it was quickly grabbed by someone.

The cup lowered and a thin line of chocolate liquid lined the girl’s upper lip. The air suddenly vanished as she smiled at Chloe. An irresistible urge to wipe off the chocolate mustache filled Chloe’s finger and she raised it.

“Thank you,” the girl said. “It was delicious.”

Chloe was falling, or the earth was spinning too fast, or something. Whatever it was, the laws of physics were gone and Chloe was no longer attached to the ground.

“My name is Max,” Max said.

_Max!_

_“What’s your name?”_

Chloe’s mind went completely blank except for two words. In her panic, they came forth in a high-pitched squeak, “Hot chocolate.”

“Ok,” Max said, drawing out the sound. She tilted her head to the side and smiled. Chloe thought she was going to collapse or explode or run screaming into the park. Maybe all of it. She smoothly put her foot on the bench. Except she missed and tumbled over.

“Oh my,” Max cried. “Are you ok?” She knelt to give Chloe a hand.

“Hot chocolate,” Chloe groaned. She couldn’t accept the hand, couldn’t touch the girl or she might do worse than fall over. She waved vaguely at the sky as if she was enthralled with something in the sky above. And indeed she was, for her sky was Max.

Chloe rolled onto all fours, then leapt to her feet. As she brushed the snow from her suit she saw Steph and Rachel approaching. With her gaze no longer trapped by Max’s, she could think clearly again. And she realized with a silent groan what a fool she’d made of herself.

_Even if Max does like girls, there’s no way I can recover from this. And Steph and Rachel will hound me about this forever!_

She looked back at Max and her friends, and trapped herself again in those eyes. A goofy grin came over her face as all coherent thought fled.

“Well, hot chocolate,” Max said and held out a small plastic cup. “Would you like to join us? It is your drink after all.”

Chloe accepted the cup, then almost dropped it as their gloved fingers touched during the handoff. She stood there, cup in hand, a big old smile on her face, staring at Max. Not a thought in her head.

“Hey there,” came Rachel’s voice. “Seems you found our friend. Sorry she got away from us. I hope she didn’t bother you too much. I’m Rachel and this is my girlfriend Steph.”

Max’s eyes flicked away and Chloe found she could move. But those eyes returned before she could do anything. “Oh no,” Max said with a small laugh. “She’s not a bother at all. In fact she brought us some delicious hot chocolate.”

When Max laughed, Chloe’s body went all weird. Tingles swept up her body and a strange jitter took her limbs. And she suddenly needed to pee. Bad.

“Urp,” she squeaked, still not able to say anything. Thankfully, the bodily need overwhelmed her paralysis and she ran toward the nearest restroom.

Minutes later, as she washed her hands, she frowned at herself in the mirror. “Real smooth, Price,” she growled. “You can kiss your chances with that girl goodbye.”

She dried her hands, tossed the paper in the trash, then left the restroom. Rachel and Steph were with the other three, laughing and enjoying the hot chocolate.

“Well, we should go now,” Steph said as Chloe neared. “See you at school.”

The others said their goodbyes. Chloe tried not to look at them. She kept her head down and hands in her coat pockets.

“Thanks for the hot chocolate… cocoa,” Max said.

_Cocoa?_

Chloe looked at Max, and saw the edge of a smile as the girl turned away. “You’re… you’re welcome,” she called, but the girl had already joined the others on their trudge back to the parking lot. If Max heard her, she didn’t acknowledge it.

“Fuck,” Chloe whispered as she kicked a small snow pile.

“Oh, what’s the matter ‘hot chocolate’,” Steph said as she took Chloe’s arm.

“I fucked that up big time,” Chloe muttered.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Rachel said as she took Chloe’s other arm. In her other hand she held a folded piece of paper.

“I believe Max’s words were: ‘this is for Cocoa’,” Rachel said as she handed the paper to Chloe.

With pounding heart and quickened breath, Chloe took the paper and looked at it. “Well, are you going to open it,” Steph asked.

Chloe ripped her gloves off and fumbled with the folds. Inside, in neat script, she found a short message:

To Cocoa: Thank you for rescuing us in our hot chocolate emergency - Max

Next to her name was a phone number.

“Fuck yeah!” Chloe yelled and skipped into the air. “Wait! Who’s cocoa?”

Rachel laughed and said, “We told her that’s your name.”

“We said your parents liked chocolate so much, they named you after their favorite food.”

Now, Max’s farewell made sense. “Doesn’t matter,” Chloe said as she looked again at the paper. “She gave me her number! She can call me Cocoa all she wants.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Yo, this is Cocoa!”

Chloe’s thumb hovered over the send button. With an exasperated sound she erased the text and wrote something else.

_How hard can it be to send a text?_

Apparently it was very hard.

“Chloe Elizabeth Price!” The hard tone in Joyce’s voice did more to pull her from the phone than the use of her full name. Her head snapped up, and she sat up straight in the booth. Across from her, Steph and Rachel hid smiles behind their hands. Their eyes that wouldn’t meet hers. The little color in their cheeks added to the sense of trouble that hung over them.

Joyce loomed over her, hands on her hips and brow furrowed. “Well,” she demanded.

Chloe gulped and tried to put her phone away but it tumbled to the floor by her feet. It took all she had to not dive after it. In front of her a burger and fries sat untouched, as did the soda she’d ordered. Rachel and Steph had devoured their meals.

“You’ll have to forgive her, Mrs. Price,” Steph said. “She’s got a bad case of the Max’s.”

Joyce arched an eyebrow, her eyes still pinning Chloe to her seat. She squirmed as her mom said, “The Maxes? Who is he?”

“She,” Steph said, drawing out the word, “is a girl in Rachel’s photography class. She’s from Seattle and Chloe met her today while sledding.”

“Yeah, um,” Chloe said, trying to muster some courage. “She uh had an emergency and I helped her out.”

“Oh, I like to hear that my daughter is helping people,” Joyce said and let her arms loosen. “Now, are you going to eat your meal or should I put it into a to-go box?”

The burger smelled delicious, but Chloe found she didn’t have an appetite. The soda looked appealing though and she took a quick sip from it. And tried to ignore the smirk Steph flashed her. “I’ll uh take the food to go,” Chloe said smoothly.

Joyce hmped, grabbed the plate, and headed toward the counter. “That was close,” Rachel hissed once Joyce was out of earshot. “I thought she was gonna take your head off!”

“Nah, Joyce’d never do that,” Chloe said with far more confidence than she felt. She ducked under the table and searched around until she found her phone. Without looking at it, she tucked it into her pocket.

“Uh, you do remember that time you blew up your barbies,” Steph said. “I didn’t see you for a month after that.”

“That’s because I burned the floor,” Chloe said and set the cup of soda on the table. “I had to move my bed to cover it up. Me ignoring her questions is different.”

Rachel and Steph glanced at each other before Steph said, “If you say so.”

“What’s next,” Rachel asked as she finished her soda.

Steph made a rude noise and said, “I’ve got to study for that science final and finish my report.” She laid her hand on the table and hooked her pinky with Rachel’s. “You did pretty well with that topic… you could always help me.”

“Help,” Chloe laughed. “Only if it’s chemistry.”

“Maybe it is,” Steph said with an impish smile at her girlfriend. Rachel returned the smile and slid her hand over Steph’s.

“Count me in!”

“Yeah, a whole lot of studying’s gonna happen,” Chloe said with a suggestive grin. Before Steph or Rachel could reply, Joyce plopped a sack on the counter next to the bill.

“I got us this time,” Rachel said as she placed a few bills on the counter. Chloe raised her eyebrows. “The change is yours.”

“What’s the occasion,” Chloe asked as Joyce took the money and ticket to the counter.

“Nothing special,” Rachel said. “I just felt like doing it.”

They slid out of the booth and walked toward the door. Steph opened it and cold air blasted them in the face, filled with salt from the bay. They stopped to pull stocking caps from their pockets and quickly shoved them on their heads.

They hurried to the truck which started with a roar. Rachel turned the temperature high and blasted the fan. “That’s not gonna work,” Chloe said. “It takes a while for it to work.”

“A girl can hope,” Rachel said. That hope didn’t stop her from sliding close to Steph to use their collective warmth. Chloe snorted and slowly navigated through the snowy streets. The others kept up a steady stream of words as Chloe drove them to Steph’s house.

“You could come in and hang with us if you want,” Steph said as Chloe parked in front of her house.

“Fuck no,” Chloe exclaimed. “I already feel like a third wheel, no sense making it worse.”

“You should text Max, Cocoa,” Rachel said with an evil grin as she slid from the truck. “Maybe see what she’s doing.”

Chloe grunted but didn’t look at her. “Have fun ‘studying’,” she said just before Steph closed the door. She waited until they were safely inside Steph’s house before leaving. She only drove a few blocks before parking and pulling out her phone. Maybe now she could figure out what to text Max.

“Fuuuuuuuck!” Several messages waited for her from Max’s number. It looked like when she dropped her phone it sent a message. With a groan she read the brief exchange.

**Chloe** : Hey mapiuhihp

**Max** : hello? Who is this?

**Max** : is this Cocoa?

**Max** : Hello?

**Max** : ok…

_First the hot chocolate and now this._

Her mind was completely blank as she looked at the flashing cursor. Well, not completely blank. Freckles and blue eyes stared at her from a white expanse. Her stomach did funny things that killed the appetite that had begun to return. With another rude sound, she dropped the phone on her seat and began driving.

“No fucking way,” she muttered. Her trunk clunked and whirred and heat blasted out of the vents. “Well now you want to work,” she growled.

She drove through town, her mind trying to figure out the best thing to do. It came as a mild surprise when she found herself pulling into the Blackwell parking lot. In disbelief, she parked the truck and stared at the buildings beyond the windshield. Light snow was falling which added to a sense of mystery building in her.

_Um… what now. Come on brain, you brought me here. What’s your plan?_

This was an entirely new experience for her. She was usually the one with confidence and the willingness to dive in without a plan. Something about this girl threw all that out the window. As she debated and worried, a car pulled up behind her.

Chloe looked at the rear view mirror in time to see two people get out of the car. One wore a teal hat! They waved at the driver then walked toward the stairs at the side of the lot.

Before Chloe knew it, she was out of the truck and slip-sliding her way across the lot. She skidded by the car as it turned around and called out something. At the edge of her vision she saw the two girls stop and turn, but her gaze was on the ground. She made it to the sidewalk without falling then looked up in time for the world to end.

Those blues eyes peeked at her from below the teal hat, a few strands of brown hair flicking in the breeze. A smile brighter than sunlight on the snow engulfed her. The world became slow and weightless as Chloe lost herself in that smile.

It took quite a while for Chloe to realize that Max’s mouth was moving. She concentrated but heard only a loud pounding. Max stepped closer and the pounding got louder!

“-ok, Cocoa?”

The words filtered through the pounding and it took an agonizingly long time for it to click in Chloe’s mind.

_Words._

_Speaking._

_Open mouth. Say something!_

Chloe nodded and went to nonchalantly lean against the wall. Except no wall was there so she stumbled several feet, barely preventing a tumble to the snow covered sidewalk.

Hands grabbed her arm and helped steady her. The pounding returned as her eyes followed the hands to arms to a face with lowered brows under a teal hat and a mouth shaped like an O. Snowflakes settled on eye lashes and nose, interspersed among the freckles.

A dull roar intersected the pounding and Chloe shook her head to try to clear it. “Thanks,” she mumbled as she cursed herself.

“That was close,” she heard Max say. “Do you need to sit down or something?”

“Nah… I’ll be ok.” She looked everywhere but at Max. The other girl continued talking and Chloe could just make out her head shaking as her eyes roved about. “Nothing’s hurt.”

_Except my pride and confidence._

“Did you text me earlier?”

Chloe flicked her eyes at Max, then away. If her eyes stayed more than a moment she knew she’d lose it again. “Sorry about that,” she mumbled. “That was an accident. Dropped my phone and it… uh… sent a partial text.”

“Well, you’re here now. What were you trying to text?”

_Deep breaths Price! Deep breaths!_

Only how did one do that while looking cool in front of a girl that turned your mind into mush?

The air exploded from Chloe as she learned it wasn’t by holding it in. “Just uh,” she huffed as she tried to regain her breath. Finally, her shoulders sagged as she gave up any pretense of being cool. A smile played at the corner of Max’s lips when she glanced at her.

“Just wanted to know if you wanted to do something later?”

“Well… we could do something now,” Max said as her arms dropped to her sides. She kind of rotated in place in a way that was very cute and distracting.

“W-what’s that?”

“You could walk me home.”

“H-home. You mean to your dorm?”

“Yes.”

“Ok.”

Max held out her arm and Chloe looked at it a moment before hooking hers with it. They set out at a slow place. At the top of the stairs from the parking lot, Max paused a moment. She stepped away from Chloe, pulled out a camera and scanned the area. A pack was on her back that looked rather full. A moment later, she stopped, held the camera to her face and snapped a few photos.

“You’re a photographer?” _Duh! Asking the obvious there, Price!_

“Yes, I’ve been taking pictures since I was little.” Max hooked her arm into Chloe’s again after returning the camera to the coat pocket. They resumed their slow pace. The buildings looked too close. Chloe wished they were a thousand miles away.

As they loomed closer, Chloe realized neither of them had said a word. She cleared her throat and said, “Rachel told me you’re from Seattle?”

Max nodded. “Lived there my whole life, a girl from the ‘burbs.”

“What brings you to a place like Arcadia Bay?”

Max stopped and looked up at Chloe. A weird jumping sensation happened in Chloe’s chest and she coughed. With a little smile, Max turned in a circle with her hands held out wide. “Are you kidding,” she said. “This place is so adorable! There’s so much _life_ here that we don’t get in the city nor the suburbs. Everyone has a story and if you ask, they’ll tell it to you. I’ve never been to a place like here.”

“Huh. I’ve never thought of it that way.”

The arm slipped through hers again. “And nice people.”

“What was that,” Chloe asked.

“Hmmm?”

“I thought you said something.”

Then they were at the steps up into the dorm and they stopped. Chloe let her arm fall free as Max went up the first step. “Let me drop my stuff off and then maybe we can go for a coffee or something?”

“S-sure.”

With a smile that threatened to make Chloe’s legs collapse, Max turned and hurried into the building. For a long time she stared at the closed door, her thoughts trapped by a freckled face and a scent that just now made itself known. With a sigh, Chloe jabbed her hands into her coat pockets and began pacing back and forth.

_I’m not taking her to the diner… not yet. Joyce’ll give me grief or interrogate Max or… I don’t know._

Her parents weren’t exactly warm to her liking girls. Most of it was wrapped up in family pressure, which was bullshit.

The snow covered lawn that stretched in front of the dorm building gave her no clues to what she should do. She spent the next few minutes tossing one idea after another and watching her breath plume in the cold air. The hour was getting late and the shorter winter day was bringing twilight near. It was much too early for dinner though, or the drive-in.

“Well, are you ready,” came Max’s voice from behind her. She turned around to see Max had changed hats. Instead of the teal hat, she wore a bright blue cap that clung tight to her head.

_Same color as my hair…_

Chloe nodded and turned toward the parking lot. Max hurried to walk next to her. They didn’t link arms again, though Chloe wondered if she should offer hers.

“Do you attend Blackwell, Cocoa?”

“Kind of,” Chloe said hesitantly. _Should I tell her my real name?_

With a laugh that Chloe wanted to hear again, Max said, “What does that mean? How can you ‘kind of’ attend?”

_Oh shit, here’s where it all falls apart._

“I’m uh I’m kind of suspended right now.”

“How can you be kind of suspended?”

Chloe pursed her lips and wondered how she could change the topic. She was still having trouble thinking straight next to Max though and her mind refused to cooperate. “Principle Wells’ and I had… creative artistic differences about school property, so I’ve been in in-school suspension the last couple of weeks.”

“That was you?” Max’s voice sounded different and Chloe didn’t know how to understand it. When she glanced to her side she saw she walked alone. Max was behind her a couple of steps with an expression that was strange and unreadable.

“Yes,” she answered timidly.

“I wondered who did that. The style was so... different and... awesome.”

Max stepped up to Chloe with a smile. “I’m sorry you got suspended over it. It’s a great work.”

“Y-you liked it?”

“Like it! I took some pictures of it. It’s… in my gallery.” Max ducked her head when she said that.

“Whoa! You have a gallery?”

“Well,” Max said slowly. “Gallery is a bit of a stretch. It’s more like... a bunch of photos stuck to the wall above my bed.” She continued talking as they walked to the truck, but all Chloe could think about was Max liking her art. That she took a picture of Chloe’s art and included it in her gallery was unreal. There was something zipping through her head and body that made it seem like everything was right.

“So, where are we headed,” Max said once they were in the truck.

“Oh.” The truck started with a roar that interrupted them. “We don’t have a Starbucks here, but there’s this local place that you might like.”

“I love local places,” gushed Max.

Chloe turned the truck around and slowly left the parking lot. She pointed the nose toward town and switched into automatic pilot. Max was silent, her gaze moving from window to window, soaking up the snow-covered view.

Unlike this morning, or even a few minutes ago, Chloe felt at ease. She felt her courage returning as Max made little comments about the town. A few times she asked for them to step. Then she pulled out her camera, exited the cab, and took pictures. Chloe could swear that a couple of times those pictures were of her. She didn’t mind.

_Freckle-faced hipster and blue-haired punk. Look out world, here we come!_


End file.
